Watch Mumford & Sons cover Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt”

In Trent Reznor’s hometown Cleveland this past week, Mumford and Sons performed a rousing cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” in their impressive in-the-round arena presentation.

The song appeared originally on 1994 album ‘the Downward Spiral’ and has endured as an emotional classic that has been covered by several artists. Most notable of these covers was country legend Johnny Cash whose cover of the song was for his ‘American Recordings’ series in 2003. Reznor was said to be so moved when he first saw the memorable music video for the track, that he wept and expressed that it felt like it was no longer his song.

The song transcended under Cash to represent the harshness of coming to end of one’s life and possibly coming to that conclusion with deep regrets. Cash would lose his wife and follow musician June three months after the video was filmed. Cash himself in failing health, would die just a few months after that.